Jury selection is under way for one of three men facing murder charges in the fatal 2009 drive-by shooting of Taunton man Troy Pina on Route 24 in Freetown.

Jose Fernandes, 27, also of Taunton, will be on trial this week at Fall River Superior Court. He is charged with murder, three counts of assault to murder armed with a firearm, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and carrying a firearm without a license.

Fernandes pleaded not guilty to all counts during his May 19, 2011, arraignment in superior court.

Prosecutors alleged Fernandes, Marcus Mitchell, 25, and Thomas Jeffreys, 34, all of Taunton, were involved in Pina’s homicide. Police arrested them in March 2011 after a two-year investigation.

Mitchell and Jeffreys are also facing murder and firearm-related charges. Their cases are currently pending in superior court.

Pina, 29, originally from East Providence, R.I., was shot to death in the early-morning hours of May 17, 2009, when another vehicle pulled alongside and shot at the car he was riding in on Route 24 southbound in Freetown, prosecutors said.

None of the three occupants who were riding with Pina — including a New Bedford man who was shot and killed a month later in an unrelated incident — were struck by the gunfire, authorities said.

Previous testimony indicated the drive-by shooting might have been in retaliation for a previous shooting outside a Taunton bar in April 2009.

In that case, authorities accused Francisco Monteiro, 32, a man with several addresses throughout the SouthCoast, of shooting and wounding Alexis Cruz, of Taunton, outside the former Miss Cues bar at 15 W. Britannia St., in Taunton, on April 24, 2009. Cruz survived after being shot in the forearm and buttocks.

In retaliation, authorities said Cruz’s friends chased Monteiro and Pina on Route 24 into Fall River, where they shot at Monteiro’s vehicle multiple times, hitting and killing Pina.

Also riding in Monteiro’s car was Wayne Rice, 41, an alleged New Bedford gang member who, a month earlier, just been released from jail after serving a 2½-year sentence for cocaine distribution and illegal firearm possession. On June 23, 2009, Rice was shot and killed during a hip-hop memorial party in a New Bedford VFW hall. Adam Pina of New Bedford — no relation to Troy — said he shot Rice in self-defense and was acquitted of murder at trial in April 2011.

In March 2011, police arrested Monteiro for the Cruz shooting. Prosecutors moved for a dangerousness hearing, but superior court Judge Thomas McGuire Jr. declined to hold Monteiro without bail, saying that prosecutors had not proved that Monteiro posed a danger to the community.

Cruz testified to a grand jury that Monteiro shot him, but McGuire said that statement was contradicted by Cruz’s own prior accounts of the incident and by several other witnesses. The judge noted that Cruz told his sister that Pina shot him, but that he told a Taunton police lieutenant that he did not know who shot him.

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In February 2012, superior court Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara dismissed the charges against Monteiro, which included armed assault to murder, carrying a firearm without a license and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, court records show.

Meanwhile, at the time of his death, Pina had a pending cocaine-trafficking case in superior court. He had a court record that included several criminal charges, including possession of marijuana. Pina was also charged with attempted murder in 2004 after allegedly being involved in a shootout in Fairfax Gardens in Taunton in which alleged drug dealer Nathaniel Moore was shot and killed by a different gunman. In October 2005, a district court judge dismissed the attempted murder and firearm-related charges against Pina.

Despite his legal troubles, family members said Pina had turned his life around and was a devoted family man and loving father of three. Relatives said many of the past charges against Pina had been “false accusations.”

Jury selection began Tuesday for Fernandes’ trial and will continue Thursday morning. Opening statements are expected to be presented after the jury is selected.

First Assistant District Attorney William McCauley is prosecuting the case. Fernandes is represented by defense attorney Timothy Bradl, according to court records.